


The Smell of Sunshine

by SovereignChild



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Twins, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Slash, Soul Bond, age change, re-imagining of series, semi-incest
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-09-26
Updated: 2012-09-26
Packaged: 2017-11-15 01:55:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/521894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SovereignChild/pseuds/SovereignChild
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry Potter would do anything for his little brother. It's been that way since Louis was born when he was three years old, and only amplified itself when October 31, 1981 came and Louis saved both of their lives.</p>
<p>Louis is the Chosen One, and Harry is the proverbial 'forgotten twin' (never mind the he only LOOKS the same age as his brother). Harry, however, is used to his birthday being forgotten, getting in trouble for nothing, and just being ignored altogether. He wasn't at all prepared for what happens when he and his brother arrive at Hogwarts, and all the adventures that await them. Can Harry manage to keep himself and his brother alive until they graduate? And will he ever learn about the bond that connects them, the bond deeper than sibling ties, the bond that smells like sunshine?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Smell of Sunshine

**Author's Note:**

> **July 29, 1977** – _Harry James Potter is born_  
>  **July 31, 1980** – _Louis Galahad Potter is born_  
>  **October 31, 1981** – _Voldemort attempts to kill Louis Potter, who’s magic defends both him and his brother, seemingly destroying the Dark Lord and creating an impenetrable but undetectable bond between the two boys._
> 
>  
> 
> **  
> _This is their story._  
> **
> 
>  
> 
> {[In case incest squicks anyone, I’ll just tell you all one big spoiler right now ((feel free to pass if you don’t want to know)): _Harry and Louis are not blood related_.]}

Harry Potter first got a hint of the smell on July 31, 1980. He was barely three years old at the time. His mother was lying in bed, sweaty but smiling, a tiny bundle in her arms, and his father beamed down at him as he set him beside his mother and the bundle on the bed.  
  
“Harry,” James said. “This is your baby brother Louis.”  
  
His mother tilted the bundle up so that Harry could see the child inside. Tufts of messy and damp red hair over large eyes looked out clearly at him. The baby made a gurgling noise, and wriggled slightly inside the blanket. Harry was mesmerized.  
  
He, of course, had known that the baby had been coming for nine months, and had been very excited for this day, but there was still something special about the fact that the baby was here, was real and was his. (Much later in his life, Harry would realize that this was a strange thing to think about his new brother, but that would be long after it ceased to matter if their relationship made sense.)  
  
Harry beamed, looking up at his smiling mum and dad, unsure what to do. His dad gestured towards Louis with that proud smile still etched on his face, and Harry scooted closer.  
  
“’Ello Lou-eh,” Harry said, waving shyly. Louis made another noise, and wrestled his fist out from beneath the swaddling blankets. Harry hesitantly stuck his finger out, not quite sure what he was supposed to do with the baby and worried about hurting him, and Louis tightly grasped it in his fist.  
  
That was when Harry smelled it. The only way he could ever describe it to himself was that it was simply the smell of sunshine. It was subtle at the time, the kind of thing you can only smell if you really relax and concentrate on a warm summer’s day. Louis and Harry both smiled, as did their parents.  
  
A few weeks later, when Louis was old enough to be in his own crib for the night rather than the cradle in his parent’s room, James and Lily had awoken in fright, realizing that their new child hadn’t cried once that night. They rushed into his room to make certain he was okay, only to find Harry curled up on the floor by the crib with a blanket over him, holding Louis's hand through the bars.

  


For the next year, Harry got used to the smell that followed him with Louis. He assumed that it was just how Louis smelled and didn’t think much of it – he was only just past being a toddler, after all. Harry began his journey towards the truth of that smell on October 31.  
  
Peter, one of their parent’s good friends, was watching the boys for the night while their parents went out. Harry knew why he and Louis couldn’t leave the house – or at least, he vaguely knew that a bad guy might get them, but he felt safe as long as certain people were with him and his brother. Harry was very protective of Louis, and was known to glare at or even bite any ‘bad people’ that tried to touch him.  
  
For almost thirty minutes after playtime and dinner, Peter had amused the children by changing into a rat and back again until he, with an exhausted voice and a vaguely irritated expression, declared it bed time.  
  
Harry would later estimate that it must have been around nine o’clock when he heard Louis crying. He waited a bit, but when they didn’t let up, Harry went to go find Peter. When Harry didn’t see him downstairs, he simply walked into Louis's room to try to help him himself. Harry was far too young and innocent at the time to suspect anything had happened to Peter.  
  
“It’s okay Lou-eh,” Harry had said, pulling a nearby chair over to his brother’s crib. “Ssh, don’t cry…”  
  
Then Harry heard it – a loud BANG from downstairs. He looked worriedly at the door. He had a bad feeling in his stomach that told him this wasn’t his parents or Peter.  
  
Acting on instinct, Harry climbed quickly down the chair and rushed to the nursery room door, closing it and turning the lock with fumbling fingers. Louis was still crying, and Harry climbed back up and into the crib next to him, pulling his brother into his lap and rocking him clumsily, his eyes never leaving the door.  
  
“Ssh Lou-eh,” Harry said urgently, fear growing inside him more every second. “You have to be quite!”  
  
Harry didn’t want whoever was out there to know where they were, and although Louis quieted down at his plea, Harry watch in horror as the lock on the door turned and it opened to reveal a tall figured wrapped in a black cloak.  
  
Everything seemed to happen so quickly after that.  
  
Harry screamed when it took out a wand, instinctively covering Louis with his body, only to be flung out of the crib entirely, landing hand on the carpet floor on the other side of the room. Louis was sobbing loud enough to hear two towns away, cowering in fear of the figure that was now pointing its wand at him.  
  
“No!” Harry cried, trying to get up but finding his body immobile and starting to cry. That didn’t stop him from trying to protect his baby, however. “Leave my brovver alone!”  
  
The man ignored him completely. There was nothing Harry could do but scream for Peter and his parents as a flash of green light burst from the man’s wand only to be absorbed by a bright blue light that hurt Harry’s eyes. It seemed to have come from…Louis?  
  
When the light cleared and Harry could see again, the man was staring in shock at Louis, who Harry could see through the bars of the crib. Louis held a ball of bright green-blue light in his small hands, staring at it as if he had no idea what it was or how it got there.  
  
Louis gave a small smile, then began to release the ball of light.  
  
“NO!” the man screamed, but it was too late. An explosion of light and sound shook the room, throwing Harry forward. After a moment, he could move freely again, but his ears rang and his eyes ached from the brightness. As rubble died down and the light faded, Harry noticed half of the room was missing, showing the darkened lawn outside, and that he was now next to Louis, who was on the floor beside what seemed to be the remains of his melted crib.  
  
“Har?” Louis managed weakly, reaching out to grab his brother. Harry automatically took Louis’s hand in his, and a hot feeling went through his chest and settled in his stomach. It wasn’t painful, just…comforting, in a way. Almost immediately after the heat settled, Harry smelled it again a hundred times stronger than before. The smell of sunshine.  
  
He smiled weakly at Louis, who giggled softly back, then felt his eyes slide shut. He had never felt so exhausted, but he didn’t allow himself to go to sleep until he heard footsteps and familiar voices downstairs. Mum and dad were back, and that meant he – and, more importantly, Louis – were safe.

  


Harry hadn’t noticed his much smaller hands and body, but he would when he woke up. He’d be told that he was brought back to the same age as his brother by a rebound of the magic that killed the Bad Man, and that the Bad Man had been Voldemort himself. He would be told that his baby brother was the Chosen One, and that the grown-ups were taking care of everything and to go back to sleep.  
  
With no other choice in site, Harry would obey, and through the next ten years he would learn very well how to listen at doors and find out information that he and his brother were being kept from. He would learn not to expect his parents to remember him or to pay him as much attention as his brother. Soon, he would also learn what was hidden at Hogwarts, then how to fight a giant snake, then just how dangerous assumptions could be.  
  
But that’s not for a long time, after all. We’ve started at the beginning, and everyone knows that always starts off with a bang. Now we’ll skip to the middle and follow the Potter boys to the end.  
  
If, that is, they make it that far…


End file.
